This digital exhibit is the companion to physical exhibit mounted by the Daughters of Charity Provincial Archives for a meeting of archivists from Sisters of Charity Federation member communities, held October 25-26, 2013, in Emmitsburg, MD. These images, selected from items used in the physical exhibit, are reproduced here with the permission of the contributing archives.

An Archivist Prayer
Lord, let us remember that
The trailblazers of yesterday
Are our traditions today
Boxed and labeled and
cataloged
They leap from our shelves
Our forebears who fashioned
new stories to tell.
Their spirit escapes in new
patterns, new plans
Our web site of findings that
links and expands
To whatever the future is
wanting to give.
Lord, let your Spirit spur us
To tell the pulse of our work.
In our quest for the best.
Amen.Written for the Archivists of Congregations of Women Religious by
Sister Ann Courtney, Sisters of Charity of New York
August, 1997

Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, KY. The Sisters’ founders: left, Mother Emerentiana Handlovits (1869-1935) who founded the Vincentian Sisters of Charity in 1902, and right, Mother Catherine Spalding (1793-1858) who founded the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in 1812. [Image published with permission of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Archival Center]

Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, OH. Mother Margaret Farrell George (1787-1868), who founded the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati in 1852. [Image published with permission of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati]

Sisters of Charity of New York. Mother Elizabeth Boyle (1788-1861), first superior of the Sisters of Charity of New York (1846-1849) (Courtesy Sisters of Charity of New York)

Sisters of Charity, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. This painting presents the four founding Sisters of Charity: Sisters Mary Basilia McCann, Mary Cornelia Tinney, Mary Vincent Kerr, and Mary Rose McAleer arriving in Halifax from New York on May 11, 1849. Answering the request of Bishop William Walsh, the Sisters immediately set up an orphanage and began teaching. In 1856, Pope Pius IX approved the new congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, Halifax. The congregation received papal status June 10, 1913. [Painting by S. Agnes Berchmans, SC-Halifax, from the collection of the Sisters of Charity-Halifax Congregational Archives, used with permission]

Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, Greensburg, PAThe Sisters’ first mission in Arizona, Saints Peter and Paul in Tucson, 1933. [Image published with permission of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill]

Daughters of Charity, Province of the West, Los Altos Hills, CA. Sister Frances McEnnis (1812-1879), Sister Servant of the group of Daughters of Charity who in 1852 came to San Francisco to establish an orphanage and school. [Image published with permission of the Daughters of Charity Archives, Province of the West]

Sisters of Saint Martha, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. The 15 founding sisters of the Sisters of St. Martha, established in 1900. [Image published with permission of the Sisters of St. Martha, Bethany Archives]

Daughters of Charity, Province of St. Louise, Emmitsburg, MD. Ten Daughters of Charity, together with the civilian nurses and Army medical staff of the Loyola Unit, serving at Base Hospital #102 in Vicenza, Italy, August 1917 to May 1919. [Image published with permission of the Daughters of Charity Provincial Archives]

Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, KS. “The Landing,” a painting depicting the arrival of the Sisters of Charity in Leavenworth in 1858. [“The Landing,” copyrighted by the estate of Ernst Ulmer, the artist]

Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, Convent Station, NJ. First Motherhouse in Newark, Sept. 29, 1859, to July 2, 1860. [Image published with the permission of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth]

Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy, Charleston, SC. Sister Bernardine McGinley and graduates of the Class of 1912 of St. Francis Xavier Hospital Nursing School, Charleston, the state’s first Catholic hospital and nursing school. [Image published with the permission of the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy, Charleston, South Carolina]